ESP Family Leave Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7739 To establish eligibility requirements for education support professionals under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 23, 2020 Mr. CASTEN of Illinois (for himself, Mr. COHEN, Ms. DEAN, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Mr. GONZALEZ of Texas, Ms. HAALAND, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. HECK, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. TED LIEU of California, Ms. NORTON, Mr. SAN NICOLAS, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. VARGAS, and Ms. WILD) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor, and in addition to the Committees on Oversight and Reform, and House Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provi- sions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To establish eligibility requirements for education support professionals under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘ESP Family Leave 4 Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:33 Aug 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7739.IH H7739 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7739 IH SEC. 2. ELIGIBILITY FOR EDUCATION SUPPORT PROFES- 1 SIONALS. 2 Section 101(2) of the Family and Medical Leave Act 3 of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2611(2)) is amended by adding at the 4 end the following: 5 ‘‘(E) EDUCATION SUPPORT PROFES- 6 SIONALS.— 7 ‘‘(i) DETERMINATION.—For purposes 8 of determining whether an employee who is 9 an education support professional meets 10 the hours of service requirement specified 11 in subparagraph (A)(ii), the employee will 12 be considered to meet the requirement if 13 the employee has worked a number of 14 hours equal to not less than 60 percent of 15 the applicable total monthly hours expected 16 for the employee’s job description and du- 17 ties, as assigned for the previous school 18 year. 19 ‘‘(ii) FILE.—Each employer of an 20 education support professional shall main- 21 tain on file with the Secretary (in accord- 22 ance with such regulations as the Sec- 23 retary may prescribe) information speci- 24 fying the total monthly hours expected for 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:33 Aug 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7739.IH H7739 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7739 IH the employee’s job description and duties 1 for each school year. 2 ‘‘(iii) DEFINITIONS.— 3 ‘‘(I) EDUCATION SUPPORT PRO- 4 FESSIONAL.—In this subparagraph, 5 the term ‘education support profes- 6 sional’ means an employee within a 7 public school or public institution of 8 higher education, which may in- 9 clude— 10 ‘‘(aa) paraeducators that 11 provide instructional and non-in- 12 structional support; 13 ‘‘(bb) secretarial, clerical, 14 and administrative support staff; 15 ‘‘(cc) custodians and mainte- 16 nance service workers that pro- 17 vide building and grounds main- 18 tenance and repair; 19 ‘‘(dd) skilled trade workers 20 that provide services in schools, 21 such as electricians, carpenters, 22 and workers who operate machin- 23 ery; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:33 Aug 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7739.IH H7739 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7739 IH ‘‘(ee) workers who provide 1 food service, including prepara- 2 tion and serving of food; 3 ‘‘(ff) workers who provide 4 school transportation and deliv- 5 ery services; 6 ‘‘(gg) computer, audiovisual, 7 and language technical support 8 staff; 9 ‘‘(hh) security staff; 10 ‘‘(ii) nursing, health, and 11 therapy support staff, who may 12 also provide community, family, 13 parent and welfare services; and 14 ‘‘(jj) other staff that may 15 serve public education students. 16 ‘‘(II) PUBLIC SCHOOL.—In this 17 subparagraph, the term ‘public school’ 18 means a school that is maintained at 19 public expense for the education of 20 the children of a community or dis- 21 trict and that constitutes a part of a 22 system of free public education com- 23 monly including primary and sec- 24 ondary schools, including special edu- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:33 Aug 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7739.IH H7739 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7739 IH cation cooperatives, alternative 1 schools, and other similar facilities. 2 ‘‘(III) PUBLIC INSTITUTION OF 3 HIGHER EDUCATION.—In this sub- 4 paragraph the term ‘public institution 5 of higher education’ means an institu- 6 tion of higher education, as defined in 7 section 101 of the Higher Education 8 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001), that is 9 funded, at least partly, by State tax- 10 payers.’’. 11 SEC. 3. ENTITLEMENT TO LEAVE. 12 Section 102(a) of the Family and Medical Leave Act 13 of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2612(a)) is amended by adding at the 14 end the following: 15 ‘‘(6) CALCULATION OF LEAVE FOR EDUCATION 16 SUPPORT PROFESSIONALS.—The Secretary may pro- 17 vide a method for calculating the leave described in 18 paragraph (1) with respect to employees described in 19 section 101(2)(E).’’. 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:33 Aug 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7739.IH H7739 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS